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Southern Esperean Consolidation War
The 'Southern Esperean Consolidation War '(often shortened to The Consolidation War) was a conflict in Southern Espere involving the invasion by Kythelum of the nations surrounding it. Background Tensions Between Kythelum and Ionad Mòr-Thìr Many years before the war, a glory-seeking knight from Ionad Mòr-Thìr by the name of Benneit stormed the castle of Cynesetl with his personal army. Queen Algild was kidnapped in the attack. Benneit's forces escaped with a two-day lead, but Ordmaer and his knights managed to run down the invaders just before they crossed back into Ionad Mòr-Thìr. The invaders took a watchtower, from which an archer managed to strike Ordmaer. However, the tower was overrun, and Benneit ended up leaping from its window to his death. The king and queen returned to Cynesetl, but Ordmaer succumbed to his wound and passed away. Following the Benneit episode, Algild remained in power as queen and continued to raise Prince Almaer and the new Princess Begild. Their educations increasingly focused on matters applicable to commanding the military directly. Meanwhile, Ionad Mòr-Thìr took note that many of their own people had gone to Kythelum and never returned. In an attempt to curb Algild's ever-growing suspicions, a royal envoy brought Begild to the capital of Ionad Mòr-Thìr, Prìomh-Bhaile, to offer her betrothal to the prince of Ionad Mòr-Thìr in support of an alliance. However, the offer was rejected, and no reason was given. During the trip, Algild was retired and replaced with Almaer in somewhat of a hurry, meaning that the fruitless journey caused Begild to miss her brother's coronation. Feud Between Dubain and Ameya As a direct result of actions taken in an ever-escalating divine conflict, a great number of monsters began to appear throughout Espere. While the people of the South primarily blamed Ameya, some resentment toward their patron was inevitable. However, nobody assumed they would be able to directly confront any of the beings responsible for the rise of the soulless. Nobody, that is, until Princess Begild, whose use of divination magic allowed her to build an early model of the Theory of Tiers. Armed with the knowledge that a sufficiently organized group of humans could act with a force equivalent to a deity, Begild resolved to guide her brother in constructing such a group. Planning the War Begild was unsure of how Almaer would react to her full plan, so she decided to lead him through it one step at a time. The first step was to stoke his anger against Ionad Mòr-Thìr. Her study of the monsters had revealed how they came to be, but she claimed the exact details were too complex to explain. Accurately predicting Almaer would trust his sister's word on the matter, she blamed Ionad Mòr-Thìr for Algild's transformation. She also reminded him that it was a knight of Ionad Mòr-Thìr that killed King Ordmaer, and that Ionad Mòr-Thìr had refused the peace envoy she missed his coronation for. Once Almaer's anger had been riled, Begild suggested sending spies into Ionad Mòr-Thìr, to which Almaer eagerly agreed. Almaer was discouraged by the report that came back of a stone wall having been constructed just East of the border. Begild, having already discovered and planned around this, proposed attacking from Ryklân. Lesser defenses on the border between Ionad Mòr-Thìr and Ryklân than on the border between Ionad Mòr-Thìr and Kythelum, as well as Ryklân's bounty of active farmland, were the principle benefits of this strategy. Almaer questioned the idea of making a second enemy in pursuit of the first, but Begild assured Almaer that Ryklân posed no military threat, and the lack of precautions Ionad Mòr-Thìr took against Ryklân was proof of as much. Reluctantly, Almaer agreed. Without telling Almaer, Begild had already planned out much further than the invasion of Ionad Mòr-Thìr. With them and Ryklân conquered, Kythelum would have access to the combined naval might of two nations who had spent the past dew decades fighting each other over an island to the Southeast. These ships would allow them to sail around the coastline to Tussenwateren, which was far enough away that news of Kythelum's conquest would not reach them early enough for them to expect a full-force assault. After occupying Tussenwateren with the navy, Kythelum's army could march North. However strong Wüstengrenze was, they would be hard-pressed to fight a war on two fronts. Finally, the united region would have to be integrated. Begild began constructing a new language to facilitate communication empire-wide, as well as putting the finishing touches on her calendar. After building a sufficiently large and loyal group of soldiers from the remainders of the five nations' militaries, Begild and Almaer could take the fight to Dubain, and they could force him at last to put the interest of the people he was supposedly the patron of over his petty grudge against Ameya.